Clear vision windshield deicer



July 20, 1948. J. H. WEBSTER CLEAR VISION WINDSHIELD DE -ICER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 21. 1944 TTRVE'Y July 20, 1948.

CLEAR VISION WINDSHIELD DE-ICER Filed Aug. 21, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. H- WEBSTER 2,445,413 y Patented July 20, 1948 come: vision- WINcsHieto Deroga Jfohn Harold WcbstenRocky HilL Conn., assig'nor to. The Stanley Work corporation 0.15; (Econo s, Britain, cticilt Application August'Zl, 1944, Serial No. 550,474 Claims. (Cl.` ,20-405).

This invention relates-'to improvements in a cle-icer panel for an airplane Windshield in order to provide visibility, clear vision, and a uniform distribution of4 the hot air passing t ough said panel, which is located in front of the pilots position,

One object of the present invention is to pro@ vide a de-icer panel of the above nature, hav'- ing a Wedge-shaped air intake distributor shell at the side of the panel which will aiiord the minimum of interference with the forward Vision of the pilot.

Another object is to provide a de-icer panel of the above nature in which the distributor shell will have an inclined side edge which is furnished with an elongated slot through which hot air is delivered into said panel.

A ful-ther object is to provide a de-icer panel distributor shellY of theY above nature Within which is located a U-shaped baliie wl-ii-ch is adapted to guide the hot air so that it will pass out of the manifold slotin three streams which flow directly through the panel, thus maintaining uniform cle-icing conditions throughout the length of said panel.

A still further Objectis to provide a del-.icer panel of lthe above nature which will be simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and manipulate, compact, ornamental in appearance, and very efficient and durable in use.

With these and other objects in View, there has been illustrated on the accompanying drawings one form in which the invention mayennveniently be embodied in practice.

In the drawings,

Fig. l represents a'rear view of the improved de-icer panel as it appears when installed upon the inside of an airplane Windshield in front of the position of the pilot.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the same, taken alone the line 2 2 of ,Fis- 1,y lookins in the direction of. the arrows. and illiiStroi-l ing the construction ofthe not, air niet pipe, the. distributing shell, and the interior baffle.

Fig.. 3 is a transversel sectional detail View, taken along the vline 3T3 of Fig. 1, and showing the construction of the felt sealing strip "carrito, by the de-icer panel and engaging the .rear surf face of the windshield pane.

Fig. 4 is a rear sectional view of the cle-icm'. distributor shell with the topf removed 'distort the interior baflie. Y

Fig. v5 is a longitudinalsectional View olf the distributor shell and defi-cer,- panel. taken along the line ofv Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a perspective vieta!Y or the` tl,-.sliaiilccjy air baile shown by itself.

Referring now to the drawings.` in which lilge reference numeralsA denotek correspondnit parts throughout the several views, the numeral li indicatesa, windshield ironie of substantially rectangular shape, located in front. Ot the DOJS position in. an airplane.

In order to. prevent the cleposit and accuniuf. lation or sleet, snow orice upon the transparent pane at the front of the windshield. which might obstruct the pilots vision, proyislon is made of a detachable cle-ieee panel l-:I includ: :ing horizontal top all@ bottomll, 13.5. which rails` are ,connected together bx a, substantially vertical right-,hand rail' 7e?. and' an inclined leftfhand rail 2,5. which. is Sfshancd in cross section. Each ofl the horizontal 12:. t3 is constructed of an outer anale liar Iza endian inner angle bar Hl having aY felt scalino .Strip t5, clamped therebetween, as shawn in 3,

The horizontal rails, l2, i3 are, adaptedto. be connected to the right-hand rail 22 by means of corner screws i3d, lh, while the bottom @inthe leftfhand rail 251s. connected to the bottom roll I3, by a, screw 25h, as describe@ later.

.The not air for dej-icing the windshield is .des signed to pass between a nair- Oi transparent panes I6, Il of said windshield and the. panel4 il respectively, said panes LQ, I lbeing ,constructed of any suitable mateial glass or molded plastic.. The, temperature at which the hoi ci: is supplied for desicing the windshield will niet: erabiv be maintained at about 35,0" assises lahrenhcit.

The top and. bottom rails l2. lia of the vrind: shield de-icer panel Il are adapted to be con; nected to the top and bottom rails of the windshield frame l0 by tw "pairs of clamps, each of which has a Aswinging piyoted blade l .carried by a latch plate I9 mounted on said panel. In usa'each latch blade I8 is adapted `to detachable:Y engage a strike member 211, two of which. sttike members are located on the top, rail l2 of the windshield frame lll., and tivo` on the letter .rail i3 thereof', the specific construction of .this clamping mechanism being more` fully disclosed in mycopend-ing application entitled iGlamplng means for windshield deficer nanelsff Serial No; 550,475, liled August'Z'l, 1944, natentedblocember 19, `1946, Number2,4l1,485.

' As Vclearly shownv in Fig. `1, eaich strike member 20 is secured to the Windshield viramc- IQ means of a pair of bolts 2l. It will thus be seen that the panel ll is adapted to be clamped securely against the windshield frame i9 without possibility of vibration or leakage of hot air therefrom.

The right-hand vertical rail 22, as clearly shown in Fig. 5, consists of an angle bar which is spacedfirom thefwindshield 'pane I6 so as to furnishanoutletslot 23 for the hot air passing through the panel I I from -left to right, said slot extending the full height of said rail 22.

I-Iot air for de-icing the windshield is delivered to the left-hand end of the panel ll through a distributor shell 24, which is preferablyrwedgeshaped, having a vertical left-hand edge and an inclined right-hand edge which affords the minimum obstruction to the forward vision of the pilot. A

The distributor shell 24 is connected on its right-hand edge to the left-hand rail 25, the lower end of which has a curved section 25a which is fastened to the lower panel rail I3 by the screw 25h, previously mentioned. The curved upper end of the shell 24 is likewise secured to the upper. rail l2 by a Iscrew 25C.

Provision. is also made of a vertical angleshaped strip 26 whichcooperates with the vertical-rail 25 to 'clamp about a U-shaped packing strip 26a which embraces the left-hand end oi the transparent pane l1. The rail 25 and the strip 26 are adapted to be secured together by means of vlocking l bolts 21, .four of which are shown located on the inclinedsection of the S- shaped rail 25, and a similar locking bolt 28 is situated on the upper vertical section of said rail 25, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

'Ihebase 29 of the distributor shell 24 is preferably made flat and wedge-shaped, being spaced forwardly'irom the left-hand angle strip 26 to form an inclined inlet passage 29a which extends the entire length oi'said shell 24. The flat base 29 of the shell 24 is designed to rest upon a packing lstrip 30 which in turn rests upon a vertical packing strip 3 I'placed in contact with the windshield pane I6.` Y

The distributor shell base 29 is also supplied on its left-hand side with an upstanding rearwardly-extending wing 32 which is connected by attaching screws 36, 31, 38vto a vertical side section 35 of said-shell. The section 35 is also providedvwith top and bottom horizontal closed ends 33, A34, as shown in Fig. 4. y y v Hot air is furnished to the distributor shell 24 through an elbow-shaped inlet pipe 39 having integral double flanges 4|, 42 at its 'forward end for engagingon opposite sides of a circular aperture 43 formed on the upper portion of the distributor shell lcoverplate 40, Easl clearly shown'in Figs. 1 and 4. y f Bale u In order to guide the hot air through the distributor shell 24, provision is made of an elongated baie memberf44, which is generally U- shaped in cross section, and which serves to divide .thestream of hot air from the inlet pipe 39 into three sections as it passes through -said distributor shell. The -baiiievmember 44 is provided with aflat base 45-v which is secured, as by attaching screws 46, 41,148, to the distributor shell base 29;.previously mentioned.

'Inf order to deflect the air fromthe'inlet pipe 39 smoothly into .the distributor shell 24 provision isfmade of a vcurved deflector plate 49, as most clearly shown in Fig. 2.

The base 45 of the baiiie member 44 has a cutaway lower section 50 having an inclined end 5I which is in alignment with the inclined righthand edge of the distributor shell 24. The baille member 44 also has a pair of upstanding long and short inner and outer side wings 52, 53 respectively, which have short reduced upper ends 52a, 53a. adapted to t under the horizontal closed top section 33 of the distributor shell 24. The upper and lower rails l2 and I3 are attached to the distributor shell 24 by screws 53e and 53d, respectively.

' The upstanding side wings 52, 53 of the baffle member 44'4 are provided at their upper sections with"a pair of short inwardly-inclined deflecting flanges 54, 55 located in the path of the air vflowing forwardly from the inlet pipe 39.

Operation it will be seen that the hot air in passing through the distributor shell 24 will be divided into three streams. Thus, at the top third of thepanel Il it will flow directly into said panel as indicated by the horizontal arrows 56, 59. At theY middle section of the panel Il, the air will pass in a right-angular path indicated by the arrows 51, 60, while at the bottom or lower third of said panel the air will pass in a right-angular path as shown by the arrows 58, 6I. By thus passing the air into the panel in three parallel streams it willrbe clear that the de-icing conditions will be maintained extremely uniform and the maximum of clear vision will thereby be assured.

While there has been `disclosed in this speciflcation one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that 'the invention is not to be limited to the specic disclosure, but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modicationsand embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what is claimed as new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is:

1. In Va windshield de-cer, a substantially rectangular panel for attachment a windshield frame, said panel comprising a central transparent pane mounted in a pair oi longitudinal rails and a pair of end rails, means secured to said longitudinal rails for clamping said panel upon said windshield frame, portions of said end rails being open Vto form inlet and outlet slots for the passage of the hot air for deicing the windshield, an air supply distributor shell connected to said inlet slot, and a baille member having parallel wings of different lengths in said shell to cause hot air supplied to said shell to pass into said panel at a plurality of parallel areas so as to maintain uniform deicing conditions in said panel, saidfbafe member being parallel to said inlet end rail and having the outer wing member shorter than the inner wing thereof.

2. A windshield de-icer as defined in claim 1, in which said bafe is provided at its upper portion with a base having secured thereto a downwardly extending deflector member having a curved upper extremity located in the path of the Vair supplied to said distributor shell to deect said air downwardly through said baffle to the lower part of said shell.

3. A windshield de-icer as dened in claim 1,

In operation,

to the rear of in which said distributor shell is located at one end of said panel and has its inner lower edge inclined outwardly to provide the minimum of obstruction to the pilots vision.

4. In a baliie for a de-icer distributor shell attached to the side of a windshield panel, a at base adapted tobe secured to the forward base of said shell, a pair of parallel side wings extending rearwardly from said base, one of said side wings having an open recess whereby the air supplied to said shell from the rear thereof will be divided and caused to flow into said panel at a plurality of spaced sections, the rear edges of said side Wings being inclined inwardly at the top portion of said baille to deilect the air supplied to the rear of said shell in such a manner as to cause the lhot air to ilow into said shell in three streams of substantially equal volume.

5. In a windshield de-icer panel, an air supply distributor shell located along one edge of said panel, said shell having a narrow vertical baille located in the central portion thereof, said baille having a pair of rearwardly-extending parallel side wings of unequal length, means to supply a stream of air to the rear of said shell against of said baille, the Wings of said JOHN HAROLD WEBSTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the I'lle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

